Vietnamese companies honoured for exemplary gender equality practices

WVR - Fifteen Vietnamese businesses on November 8 were honoured at the Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs) Awards for their exemplary practices for gender equality.
Vietnamese companies honoured for exemplary gender equality practices
Vietnamese businesses honoured at WEPs Awards 2022. (Photo: UN Women)

This is the third year the award has been held in Vietnam by the UN Women and the Vietnam Women Entrepreneur Council, with support from the Australian Government – which has for years assisted gender equality-related activities in Vietnam and UN Women’s activities.

It aims to recognise companies that are taking action on gender equality aligned to the WEPs and to encourage more companies to take action by joining the WEPs.

The award has seven categories: Leadership commitment, youth leadership, gender-inclusive workplace, gender-responsive marketplace, Community engagement and partnerships, transparency and reporting, and small- and medium-sized enterprises joining the WEPs.

Elisa Fernandez Saenz, Country Representative of UN Women Vietnam, expressed her belief that the award will inspire more companies to apply policies and practices promoting gender equality.

In the category “Community engagement and partnership”, Unilever Vietnam has just been awarded with the highest position. The “Community engagement and partnership” category WEPs Awards this year aims to recognize businesses that promote gender equality through engaging with the community and driving partnerships, which incorporates gender equality into sustainability strategies, social responsibility activities or charity programs, especially support and cooperation activities.

This award is a recognition and proof point for the efforts of Unilever Vietnam and Sunlight in inspiring and collaborating with partners to join hands to enhance women's empowerment, create favorable conditions for women to do business to achieve economic autonomy, thereby have a stable and happy life and contribute to the country’s sustainable development regarding economic, social and environmental aspects.

At the awarding ceremony, UN Women and the Australian Embassy in Vietnam co-organised a workshop on creating equal market opportunities by advancing gender responsive procurement.

The function also saw a new cooperation programme named “WE RISE Together” introduced.

The programme, funded by the Australian Government through the Mekong-Australia Partnership, aims to boost gender-responsive procurement in Vietnam.

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